Financial Comparison: Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:APPTF) versus Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND)

Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (OTCMKTS:APPTF) and Gladstone Land (NASDAQ:LAND) are both real estate companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two businesses based on the strength of their institutional ownership, risk, profitability, analyst recommendations, valuation, earnings and dividends.

Profitability

This table compares Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Gladstone Land’s net margins, return on equity and return on assets.

	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gladstone Land	19.77%	2.46%	1.29%

Earnings & Valuation

This table compares Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Gladstone Land”s top-line revenue, earnings per share and valuation.

	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A
Gladstone Land	$89.54 million	5.41	$14.56 million	$0.06	225.17

Gladstone Land has higher revenue and earnings than Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.

Insider & Institutional Ownership

53.6% of Gladstone Land shares are held by institutional investors. 7.2% of Gladstone Land shares are held by insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that hedge funds, endowments and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.

Analyst Recommendations

This is a summary of current ratings and target prices for Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust and Gladstone Land, as reported by MarketBeat.

	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust	0	0	0	0	N/A
Gladstone Land	0	2	2	0	2.50

Gladstone Land has a consensus target price of $16.00, suggesting a potential upside of 18.43%. Given Gladstone Land’s higher possible upside, analysts plainly believe Gladstone Land is more favorable than Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust.

Summary

Gladstone Land beats Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust on 8 of the 8 factors compared between the two stocks.

About Automotive Properties Real Estate Investment Trust

Automotive Properties REIT is an internally managed, unincorporated, open-ended real estate investment trust focused on owning and acquiring primarily income-producing automotive dealership properties located in Canada. The REIT's portfolio currently consists of 77 income-producing commercial properties, representing approximately 2.9 million square feet of gross leasable area, in metropolitan markets across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Québec. Automotive Properties REIT is the only public vehicle in Canada focused on consolidating automotive dealership real estate properties.

About Gladstone Land

Founded in 1997, Gladstone Land is a publicly traded real estate investment trust that acquires and owns farmland and farm-related properties located in major agricultural markets in the U.S. and leases its properties to unrelated third-party farmers. The Company, which reports the aggregate fair value of its farmland holdings on a quarterly basis, currently owns 169 farms, comprised of approximately 116,000 acres in 15 different states and over 45,000 acre-feet of banked water in California, valued at a total of approximately $1.6 billion. Gladstone Land’s farms are predominantly located in regions where its tenants are able to grow fresh produce annual row crops, such as berries and vegetables, which are generally planted and harvested annually. The Company also owns farms growing permanent crops, such as almonds, apples, cherries, figs, lemons, olives, pistachios, and other orchards, as well as blueberry groves and vineyards, which are generally planted every 20-plus years and harvested annually. Approximately 40% of the Company’s fresh produce acreage is either organic or in transition to become organic, and over 10% of its permanent crop acreage falls into this category. The Company may also acquire property related to farming, such as cooling facilities, processing buildings, packaging facilities, and distribution centers. Gladstone Land pays monthly distributions to its stockholders and has paid 129 consecutive monthly cash distributions on its common stock since its initial public offering in January 2013. The Company has increased its common distributions 32 times over the prior 35 quarters, and the current per-share distribution on its common stock is $0.0464 per month, or $0.5568 per year.